There is a common and recurring challenge amongst commercial real estate developers. To ensure their project does not result in delivering an obsolete building upon substantial completion. This is an understandably stressful predicament for development teams who are having to define functional and experiential uses cases two, three, sometimes five years in advance of completion with expectations that the new building meet both market demand as well as operational requirements.
The problem is rooted in how smart buildings are procured. A problem compounded by the accelerated evolution of applicable technologies, the proliferation of IoT, increasing expectations of tenants and the realization of unplanned events (pandemics).
As a result business models are being examined and internal discussions are taking commonplace which is contributing to the increasing headwind that have grinded these projects to a halt. Let’s not try to pretend that this scenario is not currently playing out on countless development projects.
Most smart building projects lose sight of their value because both priority and emphasis is being placed on the building’s utility (fit for use) and have not necessarily weighed the importance of its warranty (fit for purpose). In other words, significant energy is being spent on functional features much too early in the project asking the customer to define value long before utility of the space can be recognized, or perhaps without engaging the voice of the customer.
This article was written by Remo Di Fronzo, Director of Smart Buildings at ThoughtWire.
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